Those small shows were so much fun. And I agree, it was a total different time back then. I was actually pretty surprised by the turnout from people all over the country.

Back in my wild youth, Greg and I harvested ALOT of roulette chips. We got chased out of two places in Biloxi, one in Tunica and one very scary time in Kansas (I really was unsure if I wasn't going to make it out alive). To be clear, I have changed my position 180 degrees on the subject of harvesting - I don't do it anymore. However, back in the day, I had no problems with it.

One of the funnier events happened at this Biloxi show. After dinner, a group of us entered a poker tournament where we were planning to (surprise surprise) harvest No Cash Value tournament chips. We all bought in and after about 45 minutes we took our first break. It was at this time that Susong disappeared. It was also at this time that the casino decided to color up (is that the correct tourney lingo?) all the lower denomination chips. Greg's table was the first and it was quickly discovered that lots of chips were missing. The tournament organize asked who the guy sitting in that seat was and everyone just said, "Never seen him before."

I decided to take a break and walked into the restroom where I found a very nervous Susong pacing. "What are you doing here?" I asked, thinking he had left the casino long ago. "Ed, you've got to help me get out of here." Greg hadn't just taken a set of tournament chips, but an entire pocket full.

The tournament tables were right outside the restroom doors, so there was no way of getting out that way. In desperation we opened an unmarked door and proceeded down (remember, this is a big boat) and into the guts of this casino. We tiptoed past offices, storage rooms and loud machines billowing steam (really, just like the movies). At one point we had to climb a ladder and crawl through a hatch that opened with one of those circlular handles that spins. We spent twenty minutes down there and no doubt our absences were noticed by everyone.

Finally, we found a set of stairs leading up and a door marked "Alarm will sound" but we were far too exhausted now to care. We opened it and thankfully no alarm went off because we emerged about forty feet from the poker tournament tables. After all that walking around the bowels of the boat we ended up in a circle.

Greg started running for the doors and feeling a little vulnerable myself, I took off too. In my head I heard someone shout for us, but it might have been my imagination. We got out to the parking lot, fell down and started laughing. Good times.

Lots of good memories with this club. It's been fun. Below are some of favorite people: Greg Susong, John Winslow and Paul and Barb Bender in our limo to see Elvis. I often wish we could go back and do it again!